"help"

One thing that bothers me in this game is when you add a random friend and then every time you log on or once every 20 minutes they whisper you and say "help"

I have ported to them and they are just fighting normal enemies and didnt really need help. When this happens I add them to my ignored.

So for any of you players that do this, here is a tip. When asking for help, how about being detailed with what you need help with. If you say "Hey, I am having trouble on this boss, can you help me?" I will be more willing to stop what I am doing and help.

But when I stop what I am doing and port to you and you have full health and one enemy is dead already, you will get ignored.

I'm glad you find this kind of thing annoying. I for one find it insanely frustrating when someone tells me to "port". Not "please help me kill a boss that is my school" or "I want to show you something awesome port to me", just "port". I am not your pet, and I am not here to be commanded. If you want my help, you need to have the decency to tell me what it is. /rant

One thing that bothers me in this game is when you add a random friend and then every time you log on or once every 20 minutes they whisper you and say "help"

I have ported to them and they are just fighting normal enemies and didnt really need help. When this happens I add them to my ignored.

So for any of you players that do this, here is a tip. When asking for help, how about being detailed with what you need help with. If you say "Hey, I am having trouble on this boss, can you help me?" I will be more willing to stop what I am doing and help.

But when I stop what I am doing and port to you and you have full health and one enemy is dead already, you will get ignored.

But what if they don't have text chat? But it is annoying, one time a level 26 asked me to help with a boss, the Fairy Queen. I thought to myself, 'A level 26 needs help with a Unicorn Way boss, really?' I fled and left him to it, he also wanted me to help with Smogger, (the secret boss in Katzenstein's lab,) and he told me NOT to attack the boss, even though he had no prisms.

I understand where the author is coming from. This has happened to me a lot and it can be VERY annoying. I try and remember though that it might be a child that wants help or they just enjoy seeing a higher level wizard in combat. But I agree completely. It can get old, if some of the help seeking wizards would politely ask instead of just shouting help, I'm more likely to respond. Also I realize it's set up for kids, but the menu chat option often makes me think twice before adding as a friend as it's sometimes annoying trying to convey them a message and working with the options listed it's not so easy communicating.

One thing that bothers me in this game is when you add a random friend and then every time you log on or once every 20 minutes they whisper you and say "help"

I have ported to them and they are just fighting normal enemies and didnt really need help. When this happens I add them to my ignored.

So for any of you players that do this, here is a tip. When asking for help, how about being detailed with what you need help with. If you say "Hey, I am having trouble on this boss, can you help me?" I will be more willing to stop what I am doing and help.

But when I stop what I am doing and port to you and you have full health and one enemy is dead already, you will get ignored.

oh gosh, i hate this so much; the worst ones are those who proceed to spam 'help', even after i've already told them i'm busy (not questing does not mean that i am available).

if someone asks for help, i will ask them what they need help with; if they tell me, i will port and help them~ 9 times out of 10, it's that person's first time through a difficult instance; i will prepare my deck accordingly and give pointers where i can.

if the person doesn't tell me and just continues to spam 'help', or if they try and order me around once i join them, i am outta there; i will put you on ignore and (quite possibly) leave you in the dungeon to fend for yourself. i know that's not a nice thing to do (especially in a long, cheaty instance), but neither is spamming or demanding things.

as soon as i uncover people like this on my friends' list (rare, since i'm pickier now), they are deleted.

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try it this way: "hey von, i'm having trouble with x, would you mind helping me?"

-always greet your friend by name (wizard's name, or her real one/nickname, if you know it) ; this adds a personal touch and she's less likely to feel like you are using her.

-telling her what you're having trouble with gives her time to prepare, so she's not porting blindly. it will also help her to give you the right advice, if it's your first time through~ or, if it's her first time doing the instance, she can do her research.

- phrases like would you mind indicate that you respect your friend's time; she'll probably tell you if she's free now (sure, be right there), later (as soon as i'm done with x), or not at all (sorry, i'm already helping another friend).

if she does offer to help, say thank you~ if not, a simple, 'oh, that's okay, no problem' will suffice.do not continue to pester someone who's already said no. you will be ignored and/or removed.

If there is a person like that who constantly begs who unnecessary assistance like that just use a clear and concise no. If they don't get the message you can add to your ignore list at any time. But you know your limits, but on the other hand there are some who enjoy helping others, but I'm guessing you're not one of those people.

I'm generally with Dr. Von here. I do have some qualms about refusing to help players with menu chat only, it feels a bit elitist to just ostracize them. But it is really annoying to have to port in to someone's fight blind without knowing what you'll be fighting. Any decent player will want to tweak a deck for the specific enemy, which you can't do porting in blind. Unfortunately, some of the players most frequently calling for help don't understand this, which is exactly why they need so much help. Spamming random cards at an enemy is no substitute for a properly built deck.

If there is a person like that who constantly begs who unnecessary assistance like that just use a clear and concise no. If they don't get the message you can add to your ignore list at any time. But you know your limits, but on the other hand there are some who enjoy helping others, but I'm guessing you're not one of those people.

Charles Nightsword 39 See you in the spiral! (or not)

well, aren't we presumptuous.

for the record, it's not that i don't like helping people: i just don't have the patience for people who are rude and disrespectful of me and/or my time.i am an adult. i work very hard, 40+ hours a week, and free time is precious. if i can, or want to, help you, then i most certainly will. but i do not have to.

if i say no, i usually have a very good reason for doing so. i may be doing my own quests, crafting, farming, helping another friend, or just catching up with someone i haven't seen in a while. maybe i haven't unlocked the area you're in, don't have time to complete the instance with you, or just plain old don't feel like doing waterworks/tartarus/*insert long and cheaty dungeon here* at that particular moment. or maybe i just want to be by myself~ enjoying my own company every so often is not a crime.

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@dan~ i agree completely with your take on things as well. deck setup can make or break you and, since i didn't know anything about gaming when i joined, my second wizard was level 60 before anyone taught me how to do it properly. now, i use a similar setup for all of my wizards (even the noobs) and it's pretty fail-proof.when it comes to spamming help requests...sadly, it's not just menu-chatters who do this. i have met people with text and open chat who do it as well, and it drives me bonkers. if they continue to pester me, i can and will use my ignore button; i do so quite liberally, so spamming me is the fastest way to book yourself a one-way ticket to ignore-land.

menu-chatters and muted players, i don't have a problem with. i have a few on my buddy list and have run cheat instances with both, many times; sure, they made a few mistakes along the way, but i don't get mad about it because there's no way for me to explain to them why they shouldn't do x, y, or z. but that's ki's fault, not theirs: the menu-chat system is in desperate need of a revamp, and i hope it will be updated with more current lingo.

I make it a habit to deny friend requests when i they have the menu chat icon, because I know we wont be able to communicate. I started this topic because it is players who have text chat behaving this way.

I chalk it up to them probably being very young, but i do explain to them how to ask me for help, so that the next time they ask me, they do so in a proper manner. If they continue to just text "help" or "port" then I remove or ignore them.

I agree with Dr. Von as to the reasons why I wont always be willing to help and disagree with The Theurgist. I do like to help, but only when I am available to or when the help is actually needed.

Sadly the seriousness of the game set in when Celestia came out. Competitiveness grew and everyone had to be better then everyone else. Prior to that most helped anyone, anytime with anything they could, there was probably more chatting then playing. I refuse to take this game seriously any more. I was only ruining the game for my self.

Altho I do not help the rude or beg for crowns wizards, anyone else who asks gets a leg up from me when and if I am able. I try to keep up with my quests so I have access to some instances they get that don't allow port ins though the last instance in AZ.

There are many out there that do want to continue in the game but struggle for many reasons, gear, deck set up etc. I geared my Ice wizard up as a killer and/or support in group play, it can heal and deal - my Ancient Frankinbunny with healing current, spell proof and 2 energizing battery cards is a big help. I have a general boss deck set up and usual mob deck with converts if needed.

After doing the entire end of Avalon's cheating dungeons, with 3 menu chats, separately, I have concreted that I can compensate for anyone's play style. No body was defeated, no one had to walk back in.

In the end for my trek from Wizard City to end of Azteca with this Ice wizard, I have found there are a lot out there that want to play the game even if they haven't "figured out" how.

I don't mind helping I actually like to but is it to hard to say "Thank You" "Thanks" or "ty" after the battle, it must be all I usually see is the person who ask for "help" running out of the instance.

I don't deny friend requests based on what level of chat the player has. I play with friend-requests off at all times and will only turn them on for people I like enough to add.

One of my good friends is a menu-chatter: we started talking on these boards, then on w101 central, before meeting in-game: if we need to talk strategy that isn't in the phrase list (for example, "this boss cheats; don't use traps"), we use central messaging to communicate. It allows me to better help her, if I can actually explain what's going on.

As I mentioned in my last post, though, I have encountered text-chat players who do this too. It's "help" or "port", just spammed over and over. I rarely give second chances: last night, I accidentally left ports on after hatching with someone, and some random guy on my buddy-list just popped up at my house. He did not ask before porting, so I told him outright, do it again and I remove you. Same goes with the spammers~ I give them one warning and, if they don't stop, I remove them.

I do like to help people, but it depends on the person, the situation, and what I'm doing at the time.

Last night, my level 95 death wizard helped 2 level 78 wizards (fire and ice) through Atlantea; he had the quest, but I had already done it on my balance. So I walked them through Poseidon's cheats, we laughed a lot and had fun. By the end, we each had 2 new friends on our buddy-list.

Also last night, a random level 30 asked me to port her into Wintertusk. I said no, that I don't power-level people and she should earn her own way there. She kept saying, 'are you gonna help me or not', and I was like, that's not helping, sweetie; there's a difference between help and power-leveling. I asked her what she needed to be there for and gave her a few alternate level-appropriate suggestions for accomplishing her goal.

Help does not always mean doing the work for someone. Sometimes, it's as simple as giving them options they would not have thought of on their own.